The Lovewell Pond Association

Fryeburg Aquifer Resource Committee

grappling with a contentious issue

The Fryeburg Aquifer Resource Committee (FARC) was formed in 2003 by
interested citizens of Fryeburg shortly after an announcement by the
Nestle Corporation that its Poland Spring Bottled Water unit was
considering construction of a plant in the Fryeburg Area. Nestle
currently withdraws in the range of 1 million gallons of water per
year from the Ward Brook Aquifer. Ward Brook drains into Lovewell
Pond at the northwest quadrant of the lake.

In addition to current Poland Spring related withdrawals, the
Fryeburg Water Company uses the aquifer as a water source, and a
permit has also been issued to another corporation (the WE Corporation)
which is investigating water withdrawals for commercial bottled water purposes.

FARC initiated several activities, including fund raising to support the
Fryeburg Planning Board by implementing a comprehensive and independent review
of the impact of withdrawals from the aquifer on the sustainability of the
aquifer resource, and on nearby surface water lakes and streams, including
Lovewell Pond. That analysis is nearing completion. Preliminary results were
presented to the community on May 10, 2005, and the study was completed summer
2005. An interesting overview of the aquifer use impacts on Lovewell Pond was
included in the study.